


Even Demons Have Shadows

by orphan_account



Category: Ao no Exorcist | Blue Exorcist
Genre: Demon Fujimoto Shirou, Demons, Family, Flashbacks, Friendship, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Shirou Is Spelled Shiro, Temporary Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:53:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24013897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Fujimoto Shiro dies and becomes a demon. I kinda goes either way for him. But the one thing that remains the same is that he'll doanythingto get to a save his children, even if it means getting along with the beings that his entire life has been dedicated to killing.HIATUS but if you want to adopt it in case I never feel like adding another chapter, that's fine. Just leave a comment :D
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first _Blue Exorcist_ waaaaaay off. I did extensive research on Shiro so some things might be spoilers for the manga, but other than that, it’s my own personal add-ons. For the things that happen with Shiro, I’m going off of the canon fact that he was grown in a lab or something(?) from Azazel’s genes. Also, I’m not Christian, so I know nothing about that stuff lol. I’ll just avoid religion as much as possible.

It may sound cliche, but time really did have no meaning. He didn’t have any thoughts, all he had were his emotions. Emotions he couldn’t understand. Emotions that would tug memories with them, memories without any thought, memories which he just relives through, warping as his emotions flickered from the usual calm to things like pain, anger. He’s forever immobile, unable to do anything. He can’t close the eyes he doesn’t have, he can’t think of anything else with the brain he doesn’t have. 

_ Rise, Paladin _

_ You’re not my father! Don’t call me your dad _

_ Guro, no. . . _

_ No! Dad! _

_ I love you _

_ Jiji? _

_ I-i-it’s scaring me daddy _

_ YOU CAN’ JUST LEAVE _

_ Why can’t they like me? Why are they scared of me _

“I finally found you. The part of you that you tried to ignore the most ended up being in your favor.” He recognizes that voice. Once he trusted that voice. He’s trusted so few people in his life, there have been so little years when he truly got the chance to be  _ human _ . And this thing, this  _ voice _ . . .it doesn’t even belong to someone who’s human.

He suddenly finds himself, for the first time in a few thousand memories, able to talk.

_ Why are you here, Satan? Wasn’t it enough to wreck my family? _ He nearly spits the words out and his vision is black. No more memories. He can feel a slight prickling on his body and he can think. It’s a strange feeling, not being able to think, everything just being. . .anything. Not for the first time in years, he wants a cigarette. 

“You should be happy” his body feels cold and there’s a slight pressure on his chest. Warm. Soothing, even. Unnatural.

_ I died. _ He’s relived the memory so many times. No matter how much he goes through his memories again, he never becomes desensitized to them. His eyes start to hurt and his breathing becomes strained. He hears a muffled voice, as if he was underwater, drowning, and they were his rescuers. 

“When’s he coming? Is he finally going to surface?” Feminine. Strong. Nervous. Familiar. 

“Don’t worry” Satan softly says, a hint of tension in his voice. “Even with how powerful I am, making sure those genes don’t overwhelm him.” 

“Is this safe?:

“I haven’t seen this type of flame before. All of the other demons who were once humans for that lab told me that Shiro was the only one to survive.”

“. . .he never told me that. He mentioned he had siblings a few times, but he was always so sad then.” They’re talking about the lab? There’s a flash of panic. He hasn’t remembered that place since he was nominated for Paladin after the last one died. He wonders who’s the new Paladin now that he’s de-

Dead. 

He’s dead. 

He killed himself so that Satan couldn’t take Rin. 

And right now, if he’s sure, he can hear Satan and  _ Yuri _ . 

His eyes snap open and he drags in a long breath, sitting up. The hands, pale and clawed, flinch off of him at the sudden movement. Shiro coughs, shivering. It’s cold. He’s on something soft, warm. A bed? 

“It’s okay Shiro. We got you back. You’re here. Don’t freak out” she begs. Shiro’s eyes widen and he sharply inhales a gasp because Yuri, with her bright green eyes that shine with happiness so easily, is actually  _ here _ . 

“Yuri?” He blinks and hisses because his hands kind of hurt. Yuri is dressed in a nice, blue dress. Next to her is a pale skinned man with white hair nearly as long as Yuri’s, eyes bright blue and ears long and tapered out, his slightly open mouth showing predatory sharp teeth. Satan. 

“Good. He’s retained his mind.”

“What were you just saying about genes? Why? And flames? _How do you know about the lab_!?” His fingers claw into the mattress and his eyes are narrowed. He’s never felt this angry in so long. The anger has no explanation. This is a small thing, minor. He heard the explanation for why but for some reason he’s just _angry_ _and he hasn’t been like this since he was a ki-”_

Yuri yanks at his hand, the mattress’s stuffing sticking to his fingers, and his arm has flickers of fire on them. They’re not red or orange or yellow like all flame wielding demons, they’re not blue like Satan’s. He remembers, in the lab, they would try and wake up the dormant demonic genes in some of the children. Sometimes he’d be there, watching, as they screamed, their bodies burning from the inside out, unable to control the flame. 

Azazel didn’t have fire, but somehow, some of the people who shared his DNA could. And once, just once, he saw a black fire in one of his sibling’s eyes. The brother who was closest to him, Guro, and that flame consumed him. 

That same black fire is painlessly licking his arm.

“Demon genes?” He quietly says, his fingers clawed at the end. All of the anger dissipates from his system, his mind filling with dry humour. He dies, he’s in some sort of memory state for who know how long, and then he wakes up in Gehenna. 

“I’m sorry Shiro.” Yuri’s voice is earnest and solemn. “This was the only way your soul wouldn’t be lost or destroyed. It’s been eight months. Just so you could li-”

“And I’m a demon now.” He starts to flop back onto the bed, too tired for anything else. “As if this could get any worst.” He feels something slightly lumpy between the bed and his back and he can  _ feel  _ the lump, as if his nerves are running through it, a grimace crossing his face at the sudden pressure. 

He’ll deal with whatever new appendage he has the next time he wakes up. He’s happy that Satan and Yuri aren’t saying anything. 

Actually, he doesn’t know what to feel. And he sleeps.


	2. Eine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro kinda comes to terms with himself  
> He has a chat with Yuri  
> And a friend comes to him with a wager

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! I'm getting into the swing of things.!

All demons are different. Some of them have horns while others don’t. Most of them have tails. Most of them don’t really have a humanoid appearance. There’s usually a few demons of the same species, so to say, as in their powers are identical and their appearances nearly the same. But every once in a while, mainly through the mating of a higher class demon with a lower class demon, a new type of demon comes into existence, with its own individual and unique set of powers and appearance. Like how when Satan was conceived, he was the first humanoid demon to have wings, a white pair of bat-like wings on his back.

He never thought he’d be a demon. It never crossed his mind (it did. Lonely days in a corner of a sterile white room in a lab made for people like him, people who weren’t even called people, watching as his siblings would writhe and die from the same thing in him, but, for some reason, he never dies. He goes through pain but he never dies and he feels a strange warmth in him, something that beckons for him, that allows him to nurture his emotions).

“Are you okay?” Yuri passes him a sandwich and he wonders where in Gehenna they cultivate plants and stuff. And then he remembers the Greenmen and Faires. 

“I don’t know.” He takes the sandwich, admitting how hungry he is. Yuri watches him with gentle warm eyes. She gently places her hand on Shiro’s back. He stops himself from flinching because every single memory he had retained had just been refreshed, memories of eating the early attempts of Rin’s cooking mixed with himself tied down on a metal bed, screaming as the newest experimental substance ran through his veins. 

“How have you been?” Shiro tries, chewing as he watches Yuri for an answer. He hasn’t left this room yet. He hasn’t really left the bed. It’s a room with stone walls with a window showing the dark depths of Gehenna. Besides that, it was pretty cozy with brightly colored decorations all over the face.

“Good. Satan’s a nicer man in person.” He nods. “I’ve also heard that you raised Yukio and Rin.” Upon hearing the names of his precious children Shiro stops eating. “You’ve become less cold- you’re a different man, Shiro.” Shiro huffs.

“Of course I am! Pulling off all-nighters for not one wailing infant but  _ two  _ is a lot of work.” Yuri smiles at him and he’s played right into her trap. He was planning on being moody and quiet until he finally accepted everything or at least became comfortable with it. 

“Can you tell me about them? I can’t really call myself their mom. You’re more of a parent than I ever could be to them.” Her voice is sad and Shiro tries to imagine himself in her position. Nine months of hiding your forbidden children, fearing that even your best friend would put them down, would put  _ you  _ down. 

“Yukio has Satan’s glare. Rin has his eyes.” Yuri’s eyes widen and she moves closer to Shiro. He ignores his appenage that he hasn’t had the courage to peek a look at yet. His hands are wrapped around whatever is left of the sandwich he had been eating. The claws have grown shorter, more dull, almost to a human level. 

“Rin loves to cook. The first time he tried cooking was an omelette.” He laughs at this. “He was six, I think. It still had shells on it and it was soggy and burned and raw in some parts. But I ate it all, got myself an upset stomach, and bought him some cookbooks. He’s so good at it.

“Yukio is a serious boy. He could see demons since the day he was born thanks to Rin, but he was so scare. I. . .I started training him to be an exorcist. He became one at thirteen. He wants to protect Rin because he was the only one who knew about their heritage and Rin having the blue fire. Rin’s so protective of him. They’re the closest pair of brothers I’ve ever seen, awe, they’re adorable.” He gushes. His face quickly changes into something hardened. “But when I died, Rin learned. I don’t know what happen-”

“For eight months, Rin and Yukio have been going to the cram school at True Cross Academy. How Satan was able to bring you back was because he just returned from Assiah” her voice is soft and she meets Shiro’s eyes. “He tried to take over again. He was able to possess someone without any damage. Yukio.” 

Time stops.

Yukio.  _ Yukio _ . Satan, the King of Demons, Yukio’s  _ father _ , possessed his own son, an Exorcist, so that he could kill most of the humans on Assiah, his friends included. He was going to ruin the boy’s life if he didn’t  _ already _ . And Yukio was only fifteen. A mature fifteen year old who was forced to grow up because he wanted to protect his brother and then Shiro went and died on them!

“Yukio was awakened.” If his eyes were wide before, they’re wider. “Satana said that somehow his power is tied to a sword, same with Rin.”

“Kurikara.” He tips his head back, stretching the skin on his neck, looking at the stone ceiling with a large light dangling from it. He didn’t know they had electricity in Gahanna. But then again, nobody except for demons know how Gehenna looks like. “Right after you died, I took Rin and Yukio. I was supposed to kill them with Kurikara, but I made a deal with Mephisto. I thought only Rin had Satan’s powers but apparently Mephisto knew that Yukio even had the opportunity to wield the blue flame of Satan. He must of trapped it in the sword as well.” He sighs, reaching a hand up to rub his face. Yukio probably won’t take it as well as Rin had. But the brothers will help each other out in the end. He’s sure of that. 

When his skin rubs against his forehead, he rubs there again. And then he feels with his fingers. And then around his eyes. His glasses are missing and he can see perfectly. His scar is gone. Yuri giggles. 

“What the-” he looks around. “Where can I get a mirror?” He can feel the anger bubbling in him but he’s quick to bury it. He learned how to bury that unnatural anger as a child. Demons are prone to bouts of negative emotions and he guesses that that’s a strait that stuck with him throughout his life. But he never got mad at Yukio or Rin- disappointed, yes, but never mad, never raising a hand. 

Yuri points to the corner of the room where a full-sized mirror sits, decoratively tarnished. Shiro quickly stalks to it.  _ Demons are immortal unless killed. Some of them can take a lethal blow only to be reformed in Gehenna. For those demons, only certain methods keep them dead forever.  _

It isn’t just the scar that’s gone but the lines on his face that formed with age. The stress of being the most highly sought-after Paladin as well as secretly raising the twin sons of Satan. His skin is smoothened over, his hair reverted more to the natural white he was born with rather than the more greyish tone it adopted with- of course- being a too-stressed-out Paladin who doubles as a father (both as an occupation and as a person). The strands have grown longer, sharp bangs falling over his forehead, red eyes wide as he stares at himself, only a few little hairs on his chin. He’s not in his Father Fujimoto uniform anymore, instead wearing a black coat over an exorcists uniform, knives strapped into the belt and gun clips in little pockets, both on the belt and hidden in pockets on the inside of the coat. Black pants tucked into touch but flexible boots, perfect for combat. His red eyes seem brighter, less of a darker red on the brown side but more on the side of freshly poured blood. 

There’s nothing noticeably demonic about him besides the pointed ears and clawed hands. He opens his mouth and his canines are sharpened. A tail waves into view and he feels it move, his new appendage pale with a tuft of hair the same shade as his hair if not a bit more silvery and silky on the end. 

He ignores everything demonic, turning to face Yuri with a smile, former his thumb and pointer finger into a right angle with his chin snuggled into the intersection, flashing a grin. 

“You could say I’m looking devilishly handsome now. Who knows- I could steal you from Satan! Better watch out because I might start using L’Oreal now and all the female demons will be at my command.” He stuffs his hands into his coat pocket, rocking on the heels of his feet. He can get used to being young again. And he can find a way to travel to Assiah once he has proper control of whatever powers he has.  _ Black fire. Screaming. Burning from the inside out.  _

“So did you know you have wings?” Shiro blinks and looks over his shoulder but there’s nothing on his back. He glares at Yuri. 

“Yu-”

“They’re just like Satans. Just like how you made your ears shorter and claws more like hands, you made the least hideable part of you, you’re wings, disappeared. Satan was so happy about that once you passed out yesterday. He was so excited to teach his little brother how to fly!” 

“His  _ what now _ ?”

“Brother!” She cheerfully exclaims. “Parentage is strange in the demon world. Azazel my be known as Satan’s son, but the DNA they used for you was a selection of those closer to Satan.” Shiro remembers hearing something about one of the head scientists of the lab he was raised in becoming possessed by a demon and accepting it. Of  _ course  _ he became a demon and is in Gehenna. He wants to kill that guy. 

For the second time in the hour, a scary new record, he has to bury the rage.

“Okay” he says. “I am the adopted brother of the king of Gehe-”

“And most of the demon nobility have been told about you. So that they don’t maul you or something because good number of them have faced the most infamous Paladin, the first Japanese Paladin, Fujimoto Shiro. 

“I need a smoke.” He laments, thinking back to his chain smoking days. “I’m the adopted brother of Satan, I’ve sent a bunch of Satan’s trusted underlings back to Gehenna, I’m a demon now who knows about being a demon than  _ Rin _ .” He sighs. “How can this get any worst?” The door kicks open. 

“MEIN GOTT! I didn’t believe it at first because Vati hasn’t called me in  _ decades  _ and when he did it was something boring and sad! But  _ this- _ ”

“Oh no” Shiro mutters, hardening his face and settling a scowl on it. He wishes he had been re-created with a gun on him and not just knives and cartridges!

Ah, wait. Knives.

He quickly pulls three out, expertly held between his knuckles, pointing them straight at Mephisto Pheles, also known as Samael, the demon king of time.

“ _ But this  _ is so awesome! Fujimoto Shiro, my dearest friend, the only former human to share DNA with my brother Azazel and father.”

“Mephisto” he growls. The purple haired demon smiles. 

“Good to see you too! We have so much to talk about and so much to teach you. I’ve taken a week of leave. I think that’s enough to have myself, Vati, and mein Geschwister to have you learn to control your power adequately, knowing your work ethic and commitment.”

“Why should I-”

  
“I propose a wager." Mephisto holds his head up high, showing off his goatee and Shiro misses the scruff on his chin."If you can do that, I will teach you how you can transform into an animal form so you can see your sons." His voice holds more glee. "In Assiah."  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't question Shiro's DNA. Demonology is already confusing, but BioDemonology is even _more_ confusing. I'm jsut trying to make due. Actually, I didn't want Rin and Yukio to technically be their dad's uncle, so I just made Rin and Yukio technically Shiro's nephew but they will always be his sons :D
> 
> Please kudos and comment if you like this so far! Bookmark or subscribe if you want to keep up when the next chapter pops out!


	3. Wager Day 1 - Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback to how Shiro met Yuri

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon modifications:  
> 1) The Illuminati organization doesn't exist, so Lucifer's just chilling in Gehenna   
> 2) Completely new story for how Shiro met Yuri, their friendship, as well as dealing with Satan

_ Past. . . _

_ It was snowing outside. 004 loves the snow. It’s so calming and it’s cold, so very unlike the painful burning of the serums that the People inject into him. He’s dressed in the only clothing he’s ever known, a long sleeve white shirt and white pants, feet clad with white slippers. One of the People, she told him her name was Yei, was one of the kind People, the ones who were supposed to teach him “humanity”. Everybody else calls him and his siblings monsters but she’s the one who drapes warm cloths on their heads and comforts them at night. _

_ He rarely feels happiness anymore but he smiles at her when she wrapped a new, soft, long blue scarf around his neck, covering the tag that he must of been born with for how long it’s been there. She told him that he survived ten years and this was his present. He hopes he can survive another year.  _

_ The outdoors are wonderful. They barely let any of them outside, but it was close to something called”Christmas”. He wonders if that’s the name for surviving another year.  _

_ “Hello?” 004 turns around, blinking. The voice is similar to that of his only remaining sister, 015. There’s a girl standing there. She’s shorter than him. She looks healthy, with rosy cheeks and bright green eyes and long black hair. She smiles at him and waves, running over.  _

_ He’s never met another kid before. _

_ “Hello?” He tries. He hasn’t talked a lot, only to his siblings. He doesn’t know how to interact. She smiles at him. Is it courtesy to smile? Why is she happy.  _

_ “What’s your name? My name’s Yuri!” She holds her hand out. He’s seen the People do that, shake each other's hand. He looks down at his hand, the pale skin that almost matches the snow, bony where hers are covered with pale green mittens.  _

_ “I’m called 004.” He shakes her hand and she frowns, turning her head to look at the Sector 7 research laboratory.  _

_ “A-are you from that lab?” He blinks. He nods. “My papa told me about there. He took me there once. Isn’t it scary?” She knows what’s going on in there? Does she know what happens to him. “It’s horrible how they treat humans.” _

_ “I’m not human.” 004 says as he was told so many times before. “I have the blood of a demon running through my veins. I’m not human. I’m a monster. I was made to be a weapon for the Order of the True Cross.” He expects her to do something bad, but not really. He’s been trained in combat, no matter if he’s strong or too weak at the moment. He cocks his head, his red eyes, unlike all of his siblings brown, quickly pinpointing all of her weak spots.  _

_ She’s not a threat.  _

_ “Can I give you a name?” She asks, hands in her coat pockets, shyly looking at him _

_ “How many years have you survived?” _

_ “You mean how old I am? I’m eight! How old are you?” How old are you. So those are the words.  _

_ “I am ten.” He says. She smiles, cheeks pushed up by the force of her smile, eyes being pushed into slits. She examines him, circling around him. He has to stop himself from rotating to continue looking at her. _

_ “You’re so white” she says, wrinkling her nose. “That’s not healthy. And you’re even wearing white. All the other kids weren’t as white as you.” She grins, and then holds her wrist up, a little watch on it. She gasps. “I need to go! But, you’re name. How do you like Shiro?” He’s learned the word shiro. White. She’s naming him after a color? Maybe that’s how names work. Shiro. He opens his mouth and tries the name.  _

_ “Good.” He says in affirmation. Yuri claps.  _

_ “Okey-dokey! See you Shiro!” She runs away, back down the hill the lab is on.  _

_ “Bye Yuri.” He walks back inside.  _

* * *

  
  


_ Now. . . _

He has fourteen days to fulfill the wager’s requirements, to basically master what probably took other high-ranking demons  _ decades  _ to master. He steels himself. He’s Shiro Fujimoto. He’s not experiment 004. He’s not a kid who was forced to grow up, whose heart of ice and steel had slowly thawed and was only able to be reforged when his best friend died and he became a father. 

He stands in a large courtyard, ringed by poplar trees. Yuri is sitting in a chair at the side. Shiro wears the same outfit except he’s left his coat off, safely left with Yuri, so that he has more mobility. His tail is out, slightly swaying over the ground. He actually grew to be a little fond of the tail, with the silky white hair at the end. He spend a few hours before sleeping learning how to manipulate the thing. He didn’t want to be like a dog, letting it do whatever it wants to do. That tail is  _ his  _ and it better act like a good little tail. By morning, he was able to use it to wrap around and hold things. 

Being a demon really is in his blood, then.

Satan enters from above, gliding down on his bat-like white wings, spreading them wide to slow to a nice stop, the wind from it ruffling Shiro’s hair. 

“Eldest, go ahead and teach Youngest!” Satan calls, leaning against the armrest of Yuri’s chair, the woman wrapping an arm around his waist. 

The demon in front of Satan is Lucifer, Satan’s eldest son, the only one who has weakened over time until he can no longer freely travel between Gehenna and Assiah, but his power is still quite formidable. He has blond hair and a little peak of hair at the back, eyes gold with cat-like slits and lightly tanned skin. He also looks a bit sickly. He’s short but undeniably lean. He gives Shiro a short bow. 

“I am Lucifer” he introduces. “Father’s eldest, King of Light. I am also the best fighter in the whole family without the use of my powers. I will be examining your technique, teaching you how to improve and modify yourself now that you have a tail to worry about, the differences between tail and no tail fighting. Then father will attempt to get you to manifest your wings.” Shiro nods. His childhood instincts kick in, quickly accessing all of Lucifer’s weak spots as the demon lifts his shirt up just a bit, his yellow-gold tail untucking itself, furrier and shorter than Shiro’s own tail. Short neck, so less head rotation. Short- lower center of gravity so don’t aim for the head or neck region unless you get behind him. Tails are ever demon’s weak spot and advantage. Use your control over your tail as an advantage. The same probably applied to Lucifer. Focus on speed rather than strength. 

“Fight as if I had a human body, as if I could be killed.” Lucifer shifts his stance. _ Doesn’t rely on one side _ .

Shiro nods. He widens his stance so that he’s head level from Lucifer, his tail stilling, and then he dashed at Lucifer. 

Adrenaline fills his veins. 

He knows that one of the advantages demons have are their speed, strength, and stamina. The speed, it’s amazing! It makes him feel giddy but he focus’s ahead of him. He throws a left punch and Lucifer jumps back a bit, swinging his right leg up, but Shiro ducks under him, now behind him. But Lucifer flips forward.  _ Evasive _ . 

He slowly changes it so that Lucifer is on the offensive, with Shiro evading his blows with flips and twirls he hasn’t been able to do in years, jumping high over the air only for Lucifer to dash at him from under.  _ Perfect _ . He uses his tail to wrap around the incoming fist. He feels a painful tug at the base of his spine. He grits his teeth and using the momentum to flip around and swing closer to Lucifer, fingers spread and claws long and sharp, just about to cut into his flesh. 

The King of Light’s leg comes out of nowhere and kicks Shiro hard in the ribs. He feels a few of them break. At breakneck speed, he’s thrown back onto the ground. He feels the stone crack under him and he gasps in breaths, gritting his teeth and clutching at his side. He can feel a heat inside of him, something powerful and dangerous. Lucifer leans over him, face impassive. 

“Shiro! Are you okay?” Yuri calls out in panic. Painfully, he manages to raise his arm and gives her a thumbs up. 

“Peachy” he croaks “But it’s just a light fall. I should heal in a few minutes.” It took him half an hour, when he last broke a rib as a Paladin, but now he’s a demon. Accelerated healing, 

Lucifer offers him a hand, amusement in his golden eyes. 

“You’re better than any of my brothers” he muses. “I was skeptical at first. Why would father bring a Paladin, the only man except her excel-” Yuri coughs “ _ Yuri _ , who could bear his possession and make him unable to possess him? You were a heartless monster, even when you became an exorcist. You were merciless, kind to few. What’s the appeal in that? Even demons have at least some emotions. You did raise my brothers, and I thank you for that. But you’re a formidable opponent. You are a very useful ally and having you in Assiah and Gehenna will benefit us. You’re a quick learner. It took me a while to gain that much control over my tail, a few days, I would say. You have my respect. I will make sure you win the wager.” Shiro nods, taking Lucifer’s hand. He stands up and then he flips Lucifer over his head and onto his back. Shiro winks at him, grinning. 

“Thanks for the help” he mockingly salutes. Lucifer smiles, all teeth sharp and pointed. 

Oh, I  _ like you _ ” Lucifer says, standing on his own. Then in a flash of blinding light, he’s gone. Satan claps. 

“Tres bien! Tres bien!”

“I thought you were over your French phase” Yuri mumbles. Satan ignores her. 

“You’re very good. I agree completely with Lucy. Now, come have some food and then I’ll teach you how to use your flames and maybe get your wings out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeaaah- all of the 8 Demon Kings except for Azazel, Samael, and Amaimon will probably be OOC b/c well, here are the reasons:  
> Satan: he _has_ to be OOC for this fic to work out. Remember, not all demons are bad. Just think of the Greenmen  
> Astaroth and Beezlebub: Not too much given about them; Astaroth was only in, like, episode 1 of the anime and even then, he was just possessing people and acting kinda psychotic towards Rin  
> Azazel: He's not even going to be in this because of what happened in Sector 7. I couldn't find the name of the place Shiro grew up in and was experimented in, so I just made up a name based off of the Sector 13 lab.   
> Everyone else: We know nothing about them, sooooo. . .OOC-ness? Technically not OC's


	4. Wager Day 1 - Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flashback: Shiro and human kindness  
> Training continues  
> The two eldest of Satan have a discussion

_ Past. . . _

_ 004 has been able to convince the People to let him more often. As the days pass by and he meets in secret with Yuri, he thinks of himself more and more as Shiro, not 004. He loved spending time with Yuri. She was so excitable, bubbly, and she always manages to make Shiro almost smile at least once per visit.  _

_ He isn’t even with Yuri when they find out.  _

_ “004.” Shiro opens his eyes and looks through the bars of his room. He blinks at the masked People that stand there, faces out of their neutral expressions for once. Anger. He stands up, blanket falling to the floor, scarf tied around his neck. He simply stands there, absorbing their gaze. “Have you been meeting with Yuri Egin, daughter of senior exorcist Charles Egin?” Fear grasps at him, something he’s only felt the first few times his siblings writhed from the pain of new serums, screaming in pain, until he too no longer cared about the screams.  _

_ He casts his gaze to the flow, gritting his teeth and fisting his hands. Even if he lied, they would find out, somehow. They always do.  _

_ “Yes.”  _

_ There are no words after that. Not even from Yei. He’s march past his brothers and sister, all of their similar brown-eyed gazes widening at the sight of him marching in that direction. 004 is the most well-behaved out of all of them, barely crying out anymore at the serums because he’s grown so resigned to the pain.  _

_ He’s led past them, a set of steel doors automatically opening. He doesn’t gulp. He doesn’t show weakness. This is the Taming Room, where the blood of his sisters and brothers, dead or alive, mar the floors. Where the People bring them when they think they haven’t been “useful” enough, or that they’re being rebellious, non-robotic, not  _ perfect _.  _

_ He’s been in here more times than before. He cares the most for his siblings and the People have caught onto that. If he’s hurt, his siblings hurt. They feels guilt, even though the People don’t want them to, but it works. They behave better. Only three of those countless visits have been because of his own actions. Even with the serums that have started to change him in the inside, the only scars on him have been from this room.  _

_ He’s shackles and a lever is pulled and his feet leave the ground, body being pulled by the wrists, pain jolting from his shoulders.  _

_ “The tamer will come within the our.  _

_ A few hours later, his taming was interrupted. 004 was lowered to the ground and he was hastily being cleaned by one of the People who look scared, dabbing alcohol over his wounds, blood that’s just been cleaned quickly being replaced by a new wave rising from his open wounds.  _

_ A rough grey blanket is quickly thrown over his shoulders, shivering in the cold without his shirt. The room being half metal doesn’t help at all. He hears angry yells and instinctively, he curls up as best as he can in the middle of the room, shackles hanging a few feet above him, not even bothering to move. He closes his eyes, breathing harsh and scattered with held-back whimpers as he starts to feel the pain of his wounds, of his insubordination.  _

_ “Oh my God, are you okay?” A man asks in pleasantly accented Japanese. He’s dresses in an exorcists uniform, the same exorcists that had been there when he had only survived a few years, smiling and laughing and introducing him to “toys”. _

_ They never came back.  _

_ He learned to stop smiling after them. _

_ He looks at the mans face once he pries 004’s fingers from the blanket, gently pulling the blanket off of him, sharply inhaling when he sees the wounds.  _

_ “This is horrible. They’d do this to children.”  _

_ “S-sir, he has de-” _

_ “SHUT UP! HE’S JUST A KID, YOU MONSTERS, DEMON BLOOD OR NOT.” 004 actually looks up now, meeting the bright green eyes of the exorcist. His eyes are kind, his face young, a mole randomly placed an equal distance from the bridge of his nose and eye on his cheek, hair dirty blond and slightly messy.  _

_ “Hey there” the man says, cupping the side of 004’s face. “Are you Shiro?”Shiro blinks at the man and he nods. “Yuri has told me all about you and it took me a few weeks to realize that the white-haired boy in the forest is a drug dummy for Sector 7. I can’t believe father hasn’t proposed to close this place.” _

_ Shiro just blinks tiredly at him.  _

_ “Oh! I forgot about myself!” The man sheepishly mutters, rubbing the back of his neck. “Charles Egin. I’m Yuri’s father. For some reason you’re  _ property _ ” he spits out “but I’ve contact my father, he’s a chancellor” he rambles “and I managed to get a loan of you for a week. You’ll be staying with Yuri and I.” _

_ And then, for the first time, Shiro experiences true, honest, human kindness. _

* * *

“You don’t need to push yourself so much.” Shiro looks up from his food, a bowl of rice with curry. Yuri’s hands are clasped in front of her, worry in her gaze and words. He raises an eyebrow, smiling. 

“I’m not pushing myself” he says with a mouthful of rice still in his mouth. Even with canines his bite is the same. Good. He doesn’t want to relearn how to eat. 

“Yes, you are.” Yuri sits down at the chair besides him. “I’ve known you for years. You’ve done this same thing before. Focusing on one thing and not really thinking of anything else.” Shiro frowns. 

“I di-”

“You were freed after you became a mid-level exorcist. After you rose through the ranks, you only focused on becoming a Paladin. I  _ watched you kill _ , Shiro.” His chopsticks clink against the bottom of the bowl. 

“I need to push myself.” His gaze goes cold, boring into the empty decorated bowl. “You weren’t there to known Yukio and Rin, to know how they feel. They think I’m dead. According to Satan, even Yukio has awakened his heritage. And now they’re alone. They’re probably so scared. Rin probably blames himself for me. Yukio will be beating himself up on the inside about how he wasn’t there.” He stands up, bowl and metal sticks in hand. “I need to show them the truth.”

On the roof, right next to a spiraling tower, Satan and Shiro sit, legs crossed, a few feet away from each other. Satan has his eyes closed, Shiro staring at him. 

“Power doesn’t work in the way humans think. It doesn’t come with a thought, it comes with a  _ feeling  _ and then it is controlled by thoughts. It’s like a burn” he taps his chest “right here” he taps his head “and right here. You need to make sure  _ you’re  _ in control, or else you’ll loose control. The flames will control you. You control their size, their brightness” the flames grow larger then small “their heat, their strength. What they burn, what they don’t.” And then Satan is enveloped by the flames, weaving through his white hair and dancing at the tips of his ears, eyes shining like burning coal. 

“You are the master.  _ You  _ command it. Now you try.” His flames don’t slowly die but they just disappear, as if they were never there before. 

He closes his eyes and he senses  _ everything  _ about himself, everything that can turn into a bother. The way that the belt over his coat is lopsided onto his hip, how it feels empty without the weight of knives, how the coat is slightly tucked under his thigh. His nose feels a bit itchy and he’s not used to not having his glasses on. His head is tipped down, staring at

“You’re thinking too much.” Satan says. Shiro holds back the urge to crack an eye open because he  _ can  _ do this, he will get the fire. “Youngest” Satan’s voice is soft “it might take you a while. It’s okay if you can’t do it no-” Shiro grasps onto the frustration, focusing on that, the feeling enveloping everything else. He lets the emotion wash over him. Emotions have always felt strange to him, foreign, when they come in great levels. All except for happiness, of course, because that’s a nice feeling. But with the frustration comes the cold feeling, growing in his chest. 

He opens his eyes and dancing at the ground by his boot-clad feet is flickering with violent black flames. He can feel their cold flaring around him, covering every inch of his skin. The frustration has turned into something cold, something violent and powerful. 

Satan smiles. He claps, standing. 

“Very good, very good! Now, can you turn them off?” But Shiro can’t. A tremble racks through his body and he’s on his feet, hands clutching at his head. He can feel the canines in his mouth enlarging, his ears stretching and growing longer and sharper. He feels a new weight on his back. The flames are cold, reminding him of days in the snow, dressed in thin clothes and a scarf. 

_ He misses his scarf _ . 

“SHIRO  _ STOP _ !” There are hands on his shoulders but he lowers his hands and snarls, lunging forward at his attacker with clawed hands. All he can see is the black, the cold. He’s listened into conversations when he just became an exorcist and when he was quickly climbing up the ladder. 

_ He’s cold hearted I think he’s more of a monster than any of those demons are. _

_ He didn’t even blink. He just shot it.  _

_ A single blow. The thing’s fluid was burning his arm but he didn’t even give it a passing glance!  
_

He finally became the monster he always was.  _ SLAP _ . 

Shiro blinks. The flames still flicker around him but there’s pain spreading from his cheek. In front of him in Yuri, eyes blazing with anger and narrowed. Her mouth twists and she pokes a finger at Shiro’s chest.  _ Of course. If she can resist Satan’s flames then she can resist mine _ . 

“Yu-”

“I  _ told you _ not to push yourself” she snarls. The flames still flicker around him but they’re weaker. He feels his teeth shrink and his ears shift. His tail, on its own, wraps itself around his leg in a semblance of comfort. Satan is a few paces behind Yuri, trying to smile comfortingly at Shiro. The flames disappear and he feels a bit weak but he holds his ground. 

“Sorry” he weakly tries, trying to look as apologetic as he can. It works. Yuri’s expression turns into a small smile. 

“Just, don’t loose control. It was scary.” Her voice shakes a little. “But we know what gets your wings out, for now.” Shiro feels the weight on his back, perfectly balanced, and perfectly in control, unlike his tail. It’s a strange feeling. It doesn’t feel new. It feels as if they’ve always been there, like an extra set of arms. 

Black. Glossy. Feathered. They shine white where light shines on them. He experimentally flexes one of them, feeling and watching it stretch outwards. Perfectly curved, feathers ruffling with the movement. 

“You have the rest of the day off” Satan says. “But I want you to practice controlling your flame. If you think you’re going to loose control, don’t try. Focus. Be just like how you were all of these years, able to withstand my possession. Be  _ that  _ Shiro Fujimoto.”

* * *

  
  


“How did it g-” Lucifer stops, lounging on a couch, but he stops when Shiro steps through the door, wings tightly folded against his back, the ends of it just grazing against the ground. “You have wings?” He sounds impressed. 

“You already knew” Shiro groans, flopping onto a couch, wings dissapearing. “Flames are tiring.” He turns his head to look at Lucifer, the demon’s gold eyes focused on his lap as he flips a page. 

“They don’t seem to cause Iblis any trouble.” Shiro wrinkles his nose. 

“He’s the king of fire.” Shiro flops again on the couch, kicking off his boots. 

“Ah, I see you two are having fun!” Shiro glares at the sudden appearance of Mephisto Pheles in his face. Shiro bends at the waist and kicks a leg up at the purple-haired demon’s face but the king of time avoids it, probably by stopping time.

“Get out of here Pheles” Shiro growls, sitting up so if evasion is necessary he can do that. With the anger, he feels the flames coming into his grasp. He holds onto it by a thread, not enough to bring it out but enough to have it at his immediate disposal. 

“Dummkopf” Mephisto mutters. “You know I really do want you to make is back to Assiah.” His words are honest and even Lucifer looks up to stare at his little brother. “The wager just motivates you more. You can’t just go immediately- you need control. But too long won’t be beneficial to anyone. You need the time cramp.” The flames start to flicker on his hands but he’s staring at Mephisto with shock. 

At first, anger. Why would he  _ do that _ ? But he understands. He can’t be reckless. The two weeks serve as a motivation. And Mephisto, it’s not like he always follows as a wager. When he took Rin and Yukio form Yuri’s dead arms, he made a deal with Mephisto.  _ You keep the children. But if both of them happen to awaken their demon powers, then I’ll kill both of them.  _

Mephisto never kept on that wager. He trapped Rin’s powers in Kurikara and let him lead a few years of a lonely life. Mephisto, Samael. . .he’s a good man, one of the few Shiro has trusted.

“I’m going to go to my room.” Shiro gets up and leaves. 

* * *

“So” Lucifer closes his book, finally talking. “What do you think of him, brother? You were watching him train.”

“His flames are impressive. Powerful. But they’re not like father’s or Iblis’s. None of him is similar at  _ all  _ to Azazel, except for his hair color. But Azazel’s hair is more like a platinum blonde instead of white, like Shiro’s. 

“So he is his own demon- he’s not just a human with father’s genes hand-picked from Azazel. That’s probably why he’s progressing so quickly- this speed seems nearly impossible.”

“You’re just jealous” Mephisto teases. Lucifer sighs, sending Mephisto a tired glare. That seems to be the only look that his only older sibling seems to tell him now and days. 

“I’m not. I’m just questioning his loyalty to father.”

“They have a long past together.” Mephisto says. “I don’t think Fujimoto’s going to be killing or fighting father anytime soon. He cares too much for Yuri and he doesn’t want to hurt her. The beginning of their history together was happy.” A wistful look crosses his face. “Remember when father first told us about the first human friends he made? Yuri and Shiro?” A real smile starts to spread across Lucifer’s face. 

“Of course. He had ranted about the meddling humans at first, two children who didn’t understand his strength, but then he grew very fond of them. The only humans who he could possess fairly and without any harm.” Mephisto frowns. 

“So how is that after all of those years, Fujimoto could no longer host father?” 

“I don’t know. Time, perhaps. He got weak.” Lucifer sighs. “Wasn’t he very reserved as a child? Actually, before the Youngests were adopted by him?”

“So he became emotionally weak.” Mephisto laughs. His laughter quickly dies. His face is serious. “But with his newly regained youth, with being in Gehenna, he’s becoming different. He’s becoming like the Shiro I first met who still had a tag hidden under the scarf around his neck and not the one who raised the Youngests.”

“So he needs to loosen up is what you’re saying” Lucifer muses. He gets up, taking the book to the shelf that leans against the wall. “Don’t worry, brother. He’ll be fine.”


	5. Kings of Gehenna

_ Shiro sits in the car and he can’t hide his look of awe. Yuri looks smug but Shiro doesn’t care because yes, they’ve shown him pictures of the city before, but it would never compare to what it looked like in actuality.  _

_ They passed by houses and tall buildings, skyscrapers that could of been built to go on forever and the  _ lights _. It was evening and the whole city was lighting up, illuminating anything that would interest him.  _

_ And then they arrived at a stranger part of the city, with looks to be built on a large hill, will buildings that vary in shapes and younger people milling about in uniforms, a speed train passing by, a golden statue of a man. Snow covered some of the ground. He loves the snow.  _

_ He’s still dressed in his white pants, flecked with blood. His feet are bare and his favorite/only scarf is wrapped around his neck. The blanket is still wrapped around him but the blood has leaked through. The People use tools dipped in holy water. It doesn’t hurt when it touches his skin, but it reduces his healing to human speed if it gets into a wound. _

_ “Are we seeing Mister Pheles?” Yuri asks. Her father nods, continuing the drive after stopping for a ground of students to walk.  _

_ “Mephisto Pheles?” Shiro asks because he’s heard that name before. Mostly curses.  _ Only  _ curses about him.  _

_ “Do you know him?” Charles asks. Shiro shakes his head and continues looking outside. _

_ “No, sir.” Charles laughs. He leans back to ruffle Shiro’s head and he has to stop himself from flinching because most of the time when someone touches him, it’s to hurt him, but this one felt nice. Like Yuri’s hugs. He feels a pang of longing once the touch is gone. “I’ve only heard of him. Isn’t he the demon god of time, Samael?” That makes him family. He wonders how Samael is like. Charles looks impressed.  _

_ “Yeah. They really do teach you a lot back there.” Shiro nods.  _

_ A few minutes later, the minutes have passed in a blur with Shiro looking around at everything. The decorations, the floor.  _ Wood floors.  _ He’s only known cold tile and stone and snow. Sometime along the walk, he has taken off his scarf, clutching the bundle of cloth to his chest. His back hurts a lot.  _

_ “Come in, Charles” A playful voice calls before the exorcist even knocks. He doesn’t even look shocked. He enters and Shiro’s eyes widen at the eccentric decorated room. There’s a lot of pink and purples and bright colors, in shades that he doesn’t know the name to.  _

_ Mephisto Pheles.  _

_ Samael.  _

_ He’s dressed strangely, with a cloak wrapped around him, twirling a hat. He has a goatee and purple hair, a cowlick at the front of his head arching in the air. Then his eyes land on Shiro and his eyes widen. With a swish of his cloak, he’s courched in front of the boy, holding his shoulder with one hand and the other holding his cheek. Shiro immediately feels like he can trust him. He’s good at reading people. The same technique should transfer to reading demons. _

_ “Mein gott. What were those demons doing in those labs?” And it’s ironic because Mephisto is a demon himself, the son of the king of demons. “Where are you hurt, young one?”  _

_ “Yuri, you can go to Professor Neuhaus’s room. I heard his wife sent him a new cookie recipe which he tried out today.” Yuri takes one last look at Shiro before leaving. Now it’s just Shiro, Charles, and Mephisto. Mephisto’s hand moves down from the side of Shiro’s neck, finger gently touching the tag around his neck.  _

_ “Where were you saying you were hurt?”In the next few minutes, Mephisto’s touch was gentle and he never touched the open cuts that spread across his upper back. Charles’ face was impassive but his posture indicated anger. Mephisto bought something from a desk drawer, a little bottle, and poured it over Shiro’s back. Every cut it touch it cooled. And then it dried and disappeared and his body no longer hurt.  _

_ Mephisto smiled at him, a sad look in his eyes.  _

_ “You’ll survive.”  _

* * *

_ Now _ . . .

“THIS IS FUN!” Shiro shouts over the roaring wind as he narrowly dodges a towering spire. Just like how he stayed up learning to control his tail, this time, he stayed up practicing getting his wings out and doing basic movements with them. They’re easier to control than his tail which always goes off and does its own thing when Shiro isn’t paying it any attention.

Now, he was flying. 

This is his fifth day in Gehenna. At the end of the week, the final stretch, he’ll learn the more intricate things about being a demon as well as his power. 

Next to him, Satan pulls his wings taut, launching him straight up into the air. Shiro flips over, arching his back and letting out a “woah” as a building comes within a centimeter of grazing him. Shrio twists in the air, going up before rapidly spinning, wings twisted around him as he dives towards the ground before he unfurls them, saluting at a few gawking demons before with one grand flap of his wings, he’s back in the air, leaving the talks of Gehenna below him. 

He looks down at the city. 

And it isn’t quite as bad as he expected it to be. 

Yes, it’s dark. But from above, the cities look beautiful. Lit up by multi-colored lights, by bioluminescent demons or demons that just naturally radiate light. There were dark rivers of fresh water and the layout of the natural features of this world are like Assiah, but in regards to things such as buildings and arrangement. Well, both worlds have their own unique view of that. 

Further ahead, Satan lands on a tall flat building, wings still out, raised so that they don’t touch the ground. Shiro lands next to him, coat billowing and scarf fluttering. Shiro walks past Satan and his wings disappear. He drops down and sits at the edge of the building. He puts his arm under his coat, untucking the back of his shirt with some difficulty so that his tail can untuck, the appendage waving back and forth behind him, curled into a shape that vaguely resembles an S. 

“It’s beautiful.” Shiro finds himself muttering when Satan moves to stand next to him, wings still out. 

“Indeed. I’m very lucky to be the ruler of all of this.” Shiro hums in agreement and holds his hand out, a small ball of fire springing from the palm of his hand. It cast a greyish glow, like fire in those black and white movies, but then he exhaled and the light that came from the fire turned into  _ darkness _ , the flame still visible but casting Shiro’s hand with darkness. 

“That’s interesting.” Satan inquires. Shiro nods. 

“It’s harder to get it at a high temperature. It likes to stay cold, below freezing.” Satan raises an eyebrow at him, wondering how he knows that. Shiro smirks back before looking back out at the city, white bangs fluttering. “I’ve been practicing. Lucifer helped me.” Satan nods. Although Lucifer and Shiro’s powers might as well be complete opposites as far as he could see, the two had grown rather close. Eldest and Youngest. “It can behave like your blue fire. I can control everything about it. But it casts darkness. Shadows, you could say.” 

“I think we should shorten the wager to one week.” Satan suggests. Shiro’s head whips up to look at him, red eyes wide. He doesn’t have demon eyes, which is strange enough. His eyes are still human, always are, even with using his powers. 

“Really? I mean, uh, of course!’ Shiro laughs, happiness spreading across his face. His laugh is a pure sound, rare in Gehenna. 

“That means you have two more days. One to see if you’ve got anything done and one more for, I guess, goodbyes and Samael teaching you how to shift.” He reaches down and ruffles Shiro’s hair, the man’s face shifting into one of mock discomfort. 

Last night, he and Yuri had been talking about Shiro. How at times, he was cold and focused and serious, just like how he’d been when he first became an exorcist. And then how there was the happier, joking, might he say  _ childish  _ side of Shiro, one which the two of them agreed is who Shiro _ really _ is, the person he was meant to be emerging when he adopted the twins. 

“Let’s head back now. I thing Egyn called me the other day wondering why I haven’t introduced him to the new member of the family.” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “Family reunions are so chaotic.” Shiro laughs. 

* * *

When they returned back at the palace, Egyn was already there. And with her, so did the rest of her siblings and Satan was preparing for them to come  _ tomorrow _ , not today! 

But then it turns out they all got along splendidly. Egyn was  _ still  _ dressed in a shark onesie but Satan can’t lie: he does look adorable in it. 

Shiro was practicing with Egyn, the king of water shooting high speed bursts of unholy water at Shiro who’s flying in the air, remind Satan of when he used to freely explore the skies of Gehenna before he became king and he suddenly had a kid and now he doesn’t have time for  _ anything _ . . .

But he still makes time to see Shiro train, so far, with just Mephisto, Lucifer, and now Egyn. They get along marvelously. 

Through some research, Satan was able to find out something about Shiro. Even though he was supposed to be a partial clone of Azazel, he wasn’t. The genes they picked for him weren’t unique to Azazel, but shared with the other demon kings. They were  _ Satan’s  _ genes. And now looking at Shiro, he’s not a clone. He just happens to share genes with Satan. 

Five days and it already feels like he’s been here forever. So with Yuri’s consent, he makes Shiro his unofficial brother. Actually, brother-in-law, since he and Yuri are married and Shiro is basically Yuri’s brother at this point. 

Even though he’s their uncle, they treat him a lot more like another sibling, a ninth sibling, calling him “Youngest” because all of them (except for Astaroth, who’s the only one who’s really still trying to bring Rin and Yukio to Gehenna, even though all of them know that’s never going to be possible). 

Shiro has progressed quickly. As a gentledemon should, he keeps his tail tucked in most of the time, but there’s no doubt that he’s steadier on his feet with his tail out, like all demons. He flies so quickly when he wants to that he’s a blur and in the middle of a dive, he’s not even visible. His technique is marvelous, since he was a Paladin. His flames, they were impressive. Black. Shadows instead of light. He thinks about his son Lucifer, his loyal eldest, the King of Light. He wonders if Shiro would someday, or is already, powerful enough to snap the scary amount of self-righteousness out of him.

“Sir?” It’s one of his oldest subordinates, a light Leviathan, a member of the Court of Gehenna. “There have been rumours among the lower demons that are about to go off to Assiah.” It curls around a pillar of his open court, the demon humongous but still no match for Satan. Satan sighs. 

“Isn’t there  _ anything  _ you can do?”

“. . .there has been talk about a ninth child of yours, sir, who was raised in Assiah but just like you, they fell to Gehenna. Even moreso, the former Paladin, the only one who could resist your possession. Is this true?” Satan pinches the bridge of his nose, his blue flams waving around his head. 

“Kan-”

“They won’t accept no this time.” Well, it’s about time he gets it out. Better than let it fester into something ridiculous such as being his escort or something, even though most of Gehenna already knows about his fierce loyalty to his wife, the queen, Yuri. 

“Yes.” He says. The leviathan’s eyes widen, gold brightening. “His name is Shiro. He will be known as the King of Darkness. He is my younger brother, so he is the Youngest. D’accord?” The Leviathan rears back in shock before bowing its head. 

“Yes, my lord. I shall go tell the troops.” And it flies off. 

Satan wonders how many demons are going to start arriving at his court with questions. And then he groans with realization. 

The troops.

  
Going to  _ Assiah  _ will know. It will spread among the exorcists that there’s a  _ new  _ demon king. Oh joy, how fun. 


	6. Chapter 5 - Return

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short. Sorry. Won't be able to update much in the next two weeks due to AP

Shiro had no bags to pack, nothing to take except for a photo he took of Yuri, Satan, and Lucifer when they didn’t think he was in the same room as them. He threw the ammo and knives away, since they were blessed, leaving his body feeling strangely light. He waits on top of the rooftop where he was first able to get his black fire out, His coat flutters in the wind and he takes one last look at Gehenna. 

Its only been a week but it nearly feels like a lifetime. 

An hour ago, the wager was complete. Mephisto taught him how to turn into an animal. And by that, the demon just sat there in his terrier form, telling him to just transform already! That was probably the longest time it took him to access one of his skills but he was able to turn into a sleek looking tuxedo cat. 

“Where is he?” Shiro mutters, tapping his foot. He itches for a cigarette but the toothpick he got from the kitchen is a good distraction. 

“Yo, Shiro-neko!” Shiro grimaces at the name but a smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. He turns and instead of only Egyn shuffling at him at high speeds in his onesie, he’s also accompanied by Lucifer and Iblis. He’s only known Iblis for two days now- he’s a shy guy- but he’s surprised when he sees that the king of fire is holding a long, cheerfully but messily wrapped present in his arms.

“Ah, we’re just in time!” Shiro turns around again and Satan and Yuri are there, their arms linked together. 

“You didn’t think we wouldn’t see you off, right?” Yuri teases, nearly skipping over to her best friend, leaning up to peck him on the cheek. A bright red blush crosses over his face. Egyn coos at him and Shiro sends a glare at the shorter but much older demon. 

“Here” Iblis mumbles, shoving the gift into Shiro’s arms. He sees that even Mephisto has appeared but he’s not really in the mood to humor  _ him  _ as well- they’ll be going to Assiah together. 

Shiro kneels down on the ground before going onto both knees. He carefully unwraps the package, revealing a simple wooden box. He’s growing more and more curious. The shape and size, it can only mean one thing. 

He slowly opens the box and stands up, taking the scabbard and the sword in it, the black leather strap hanging down. It’s beautiful. He rotates the scabbard in his hands. Black with red and silver designs. 

“What- how” he starts. Lucifer shakes his head, a smile on his face. 

“For how little swords he’s made so far, Iblis is a renown weapons blacksmith. He hasn’t made a demon blade in a few decades, though.” Shiro smiles as thankfully as he can at Iblis and the fire demon looks more and more excited, the most emotion he’s seen on him. 

“Go on- draw it! Draw it!” And Shiro draws it. It’s long and sharp and it reminds him of Kurikara. The blade is simple and black, gleaming where the light hits it. He turns it over in his hand and it’s perfectly balanced.

“It absorbs the power from holy weapons” Iblis says. “Basically, I made it so un-holly that it removes the holiness of any weapon that comes within a meter of it.” Shiro swings the sword a bit. It’s been a while since he’s used one, but even though he was a Dragoon, he was also a Paladin. And it’s required that he master every form of exorcism, being a Knight included. 

He wraps one hand around the handle, the other flat on the pommel, and he performs a quick thrust. 

“Does it have a name?” Iblis nods. 

“Kokushibyō.” Shiro grins at this, sheathing the sword and swinging the scabbard onto his back. 

“That’s one of the cheesiest sword names ever, but I like it. Black Death. That’s cool.” 

Iblis coughs. “Lucifer came up with the name.” Shiro doesn’t hesitate to turn and pat the blond on the head, the man grimacing. 

“Well!” He adjusts his scarf, fingers lingering on the blue thread. “I’ll see you.” And Mephisto grabs onto Shiro’s arm as everyone else waves and calls out bye. The last thing he hears is Yuri calling out to take a lot of pictures for her.


	7. Yukio and Rin get a new cat?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yukio gets a surprise

Today had been a long today. The students were a little bit more unreal than usual and the teacher for his chemistry class didn’t really teach them anything useful. And then there was a pop-test in Calculus and his tail started to ache. 

Yukio enters the dorm room he shares with his brother, yawning. He hangs his coat up and untucks his shirt. He stretches and his tail unfurls and he can’t help but sigh at the relieved pain. Rin is doing something, he thinks. Training with Shura. So he probably has an hour or so to himself to read some of the manga he checked out from the library. 

“Meow.” Yukio blinks. And his eyes narrow. And he turns around and just sitting there on his floor is a cat. And it’s not Kuro. Nonono- this one’s black and white. A tuxedo cat. With red eyes. 

“Hello?” The cat blinks at him before jumping. Yukio barely manages to catch him before the cat licks his face, purring. He huffs and holds the animal a bit away from his face. He looks well groomed but there’s no collar around his neck. He frowns. Why is there a cat in his room? He tucks the animal under one arm and walks to the window, checking that it’s locked. And both he and Rin lock the door when they leave, at least  _ closing  _ it. 

Unless. . .

_ Mephisto _ . 

“Why would he give us another cat?” And all of a sudden, around the cat’s neck where a collar wasn’t there before, a blue cloth collar appears, looking similar to a scarf with two loose ends. Hanging from it is a tag. 

“Meow.” Yukio drops the cat and blue fire starts to flicker around him because there is no way this is a normal cat. That collar was  _ not  _ there before. But he doesn’t sense anything wrong with it. It doesn’t seem like it’s saying anything, so it’s not a demon. 

So this confirms that this is Mephisto’s doing. 

Yukio sits down on the floor, keeping his eyes trained on the cat. He leans forward and pinches the cat’s tag, looking at it. There’s a single name written on there:

Shiro. 

At the name, Yukio’s heart pangs and his hand pulls away. Why would it be named Shiro? Shiro. . .Shiro was dad’s name. It doesn’t seem right on anything else, but here the cat is, wearing a collar with that name on it. Did Mephisto think he missed is father? Yes, he did. But why would he do  _ this _ ? And then he reprimands himself. It’s not definitive that Mephisto was the one who gave him and his brother a new pet. He remembers some of the memories Satan showed him and he remembers dad, when he was young, with a scarf this same shade of blue around his neck. It must be a coincidence. 

“Shiro” he says and it looks like the cat’s smiling. And then the door opens. 

“Yo! Lil bro, I’m back~!” Rin starts to sing, sword hanging on his back, but stops when he sees Yukio on the ground, both him and the cat looking up at him. “Wait. When did you” he looks so confused “ _ why  _ did you get another cat?” Yukio shakes his head. 

“I didn’t.” Rin plops down besides him and Shiro jumps from his lap into Rin’s, jumping onto his shoulder so he can lick Rin’s cheek. “I think Mephisto gave him to us.”

“Did you name him?” Rin beams, holding him up. “I’m thinking Fluffy.”

“The tag has his name. It’s Shiro.” Rin’s smile freezes and slowly falls. He lowers Shiro and he closes his eyes. His hand leaves the cat’s fur and rage is suddenly in his eyes and he stands up. “THAT STUPID, IDIOTIC BA-”

“Rin!” Yukio snaps. “I know, it’s a bad reminder, but we don’t know for sure that he’s from Mephisto.” Rin snorts, glaring down at the cat, but his expression wavers, slowly morphing into something softer. 

“I-I why Shiro?” Rin squeezes his eyes shut. “ _ Kuso _ \- th-that’s dad’s name. I” he takes in a deep breath “I can’t. . .It feels strange.” Yukio nods. It does. The fact that his father’s name has to be shared with a  _ cat  _ with all things. 

“We’ll be fine” Yukio softly says, patting his brother on the back. “Maybe. . .this will help us move on?” 

“It’s hard to move on when it’s my fault that dad died.” Shiro lets out a loud yowl, as if he were upset with Rin, staring disapprovingly at him. Rin pats the cat on the head. 

“Rin” and Yukio knows that that thought is partially, well,  _ mostly  _ his fault. He’s the one who was so angry at Rin for the first few weeks. “I know what I said to you, in the beginning, but none of that’s true. It wasn’t your fault. It’s Satan’s.” 

“So by extension, mom then? For getting all of us in this mess?” Rin’s face melts into a smile and Yukio wonders how his brother can flit through emotions so quickly and efficiently. His own face melts into a small smile. 

“Sure.” Rin grins at this and he lies down on the ground, taking the cat and holding him above his head. He narrows his eyes at it and tilts his head, pursing his lips, before laughing and hugging the cat tight to his chest. 

“He’s so soft!” Yukio doesn’t feel like telling him that he still has homework to do. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have so many plans for our boy Shiro. Demon Shiro has been nagging me ever since I read his aonoexorcist wiki page (honhonhon) so. . .I was kinda bored so I decided to write this? I want to remember the AnE character names because I watched Season 1 in two days? There's also nearly as much Shiro works out there. And then less with Satan actually being at _least_ a decent guyPlease comment and help me!


End file.
